A sensor technology regulates the influx to the sandy beaches of eight beaches in Santander.
A sensor technology regulates the influx to the beaches of eight beaches so as not exceed the maximum capacity set by the City Council.
This solution makes it possible to improve the management of beach occupation, visualising the influx and occupation data in real time, giving automatic warning in the event that the capacity is approached or exceeded and uploading the data to the City Council"s website.
“Santander is perfectly prepared for both locals and tourists to use and enjoy the beaches in a safe way in the face of covid19 because we are going to control the capacity and give people peace of mind.”
Similar to a traffic light, but more precise, reflecting through a percentage bar the availability of space on the beaches. This is how the screens that Santander City Council has installed on its beaches will work. With the help of Telefónica de España and Dinycon Sistemas SL, sensors have been installed at 15 entrances to 8 of its main beaches. These detect, one by one, each person entering and leaving the beach.
Using stereoscopic vision technology, the sensors capture volumes that correspond to people and discard shadows (it does not record images, respecting the LOPD), so that light does not interfere in capturing the entry or exit of bathers.
With this method, with the passage of each person, the percentage of occupation of the beach is automatically updated, recorded on the computer platform and displayed in real time on the monitors installed at each access where a security person, depending on the occupation, can restrict access to the beach by means of a fence.
On the monitors, the green colour means that there is enough space to access the beach, the yellow colour will draw attention to moderate occupancy and the red colour indicates that the maximum capacity is close to being reached or, directly, that the beach has already reached its capacity limit. On the other hand, bathers can consult the state of the beaches on the website www.playas.santander.es. It also offers information such as the weather, tide tables and other information of interest.
In order to establish the capacity of each beach, a surface area of six square metres per person has been established; this ensures that the distance of one and a half metres from other bathers is maintained. Furthermore, this measure has been calculated taking into account the dry sand that is always available, but given the movements of the tide, there is another part of the capacity that is "dynamic" and algorithms have been applied so that the wet sand space can also be used.
In total, this system will be used at fifteen access points on the eight main beaches.
In total, this sytem will be used at fifteen access points on the eight main beaches.
1. Access in Mataleñas, Virgen del Mar, La Concha, Camello and Bikinis
2. Access in La Magdalena and dangers
3. Accesses on the First and Second Beaches of El Sardinero
At all accesses there is an information display with different formats adpated to each access, which will allow both bathers and those responsible for security to have this information available in real time.
Advantages of the deployed solution
- To guarantee the safety of the beach, by means of a rigorous capacity control and information elements at the entrances, which transmits confidence and peace of mind to the beach users.
- Choice of beach depending on occupancy.
- Differentiation of children/adults by height. Provides data on the distribution of these groups, which will make it possible to adjust certain services on the beach.
- Statistics of traffic in different time slots and accesses, thus knowing the most used ones.
- Prediction of traffic and occupancy based on historical data, meteorology and surrounding events.
The device has been presented by the mayoress of Santander, Gema Igual, and the councillor for the environment, Margarita Rojo.
About Dinycon Sistemas
Dinycon Sistemas is a control and automation engineering company specialising in the development of innovative solutions to optimise the management of spaces in public places and car parks. Similar projects include the sensorisation of the historic centre of Donostia San Sebastián and the counting and capacity control of the Plaza del Pilar during the 2019 Pilar festivities in Zaragoza, among others.
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